How the strawberries appeared

after an Amerindian story, Cherokee tribe

This old story is from the times when the Great Spirit created the first man and the first woman. These two lived happily together in a lodge at the edge of a big and dense forest. Their life was peaceful and beautiful until one day when, as it happens sometimes, they started to argue. And they argued so badly that the woman told her man that she will live him next day and she will never come back.
The man did not take her seriously and he did not believe a word from what she said. But the next day the woman was gone. In the morning she started to walk on the path that leaded into the woods and she didn’t look back.
Realizing that the woman left, the man became worried and he started to walk after her on the same path. With every step he made his worry and his remorse grew bigger. His suffering became so big that he started weeping and expressing his regrets, but the woman was far away.
Hearing how he is crying, the Great Spirit took pity on him and decided to speak to him. He asked the man if he is still angry with the woman, but the man said that he is not angry. Then the Great Spirit asked the man if he wants back his woman. And he answered that he wants her back, but she is so far away and she will not hear or see him. The Great Spirit told him that He will help him to get his woman back.
Meantime, the woman kept walking through the forest not looking behind and willing to go forward. The Great Spirit saw her on the path and realized that the distance between her and the man was too long. To stop her from walking, He made to appear bushes loaded with large blueberries on the edge of the path. But the woman was so angry that she not even saw the bushes. Then the Great Spirit made to appear bushes loaded with big, glossy blackberries. But the woman kept going without seeing the berries.
Realizing than that the woman will not stop, the Creator thought what could stop her from walking. Than He made to appear on the edge of the path bushes loaded with strawberries. Suddenly the woman stopped. She has never seen before such plants with white flowers and fruits so red. They were the first strawberries on the Earth. She picked one and she tasted. She never ate before a fruit so sweet, with such strong fragrance. Suddenly the image of her man came in her mind. She continued to pick up other berries. The curious thing was that with every berry she ate, the memories of her man and their beautiful life together started to come back in her mind. The anger started to fade away and she realized that she misses him. So she decided to return home. The woman gathered so many strawberries she could to bring her man too and she started to walk back on the path. But on the half way she met the man. They were no angry anymore. The woman showed the man the strawberries and after they ate them, they got back home together.